Welcome to this week’s Technical Roundup. In developments this week, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group have issued reports about feedback received from participants during three roundtables held on the International Accounting Standards Board’s tentative decisions to change the Exposure Draft General Presentation and Disclosures; the UK Financial Intelligence Unit, part of the National Crime Agency, has issued its latest Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) Reporter Booklet highlighting how law enforcement agencies are utilising SAR intelligence to initiate investigations and inform new ones. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Auditing The FRC has published a policy paper that outlines the regulator’s approach to competition in the audit market.    The paper sets out the need for a market that consistently delivers high quality audit and is resilient. It makes clear the need for the package of measures proposed by the Government in its response to the consultation on Restoring Trust in Audit and Corporate Governance.  It also looks at recent developments in the market that suggest that increased competition and choice has more recently tailed off, and that more entities tendering for an auditor are struggling to identify firms willing to bid. The top four audit firms still dominate the market, resulting in limited choices for businesses and ongoing concerns about resilience.  The paper sets out how the FRC is seeking to progress the Government's seven competition policy proposals, and how it proposes to deliver on the operational objective for ARGA to promote effective competition in the market for statutory audit.  The FRC has already started to address issues in the market through measures such as operational separation and its recently published draft standard for audit committees. However, legislation is needed to make a significant difference by providing ARGA the powers to implement all seven proposals.   Financial Reporting The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) have issued reports about feedback received from participants during three roundtables held on the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB) tentative decisions to change the Exposure Draft General Presentation and Disclosures. The purpose of these roundtables is to assess whether some of the tentative decisions made by the IASB will function as intended and achieve an appropriate balance of cost and benefit. The IASB has voted to retain an impairment-only approach for goodwill accounting. The IASB will next consider whether to publish these proposals in an exposure draft. The IASB has proposed accelerated narrow-scope amendments  to IAS 12 Income Taxes. This proposes a temporary exception from accounting for deferred taxes arising from the OECD Pillar Two model rules for domestic implementation of a 15% global minimum rate of corporate tax as well as targeted disclosure requirements for affected companies. The IASB expects to publish an exposure draft in January 2023 in relation to this. The IASB has issued its November 2022 update which highlights preliminary decisions made at its meeting on 22-24 November. IFAC has issued a new report with insights from its Professional Accountancy Organisation Development and Advisory Group. This discusses how professional accountancy organisations can act today to prepare their current and future members to seize opportunities in emerging trends. The trends discussed include sustainability-related reporting, anti-corruption efforts, sound public financial management and technological change Insolvency Earlier this week, the Institute held a webinar on SCARP - what we know so far on with guest speakers Des Gibney of McStay Luby and Hilary Larkin of Mazars. The webinar discussed the SCARP process, how to prepare for it, what to look out for and key matters to be aware of when considering it. It explored some practical issues including how SCARP is working in practice, dealing with creditors and what your balance sheet may look like before entering the process versus afterwards. A recording of the webinar is available here. The UK Government has recently issued its Statutory Debt Repayment Plan Consultation response which received over 80 responses and raised significant challenges and concerns, relating to both the design of the statutory debt repayment plan (SDRP) and the timing of its implementation. The government has decided not to progress regulation at the moment and will base further decisions on the future of the SDRP on the outcomes of the government’s review of the personal insolvency framework, led by the Insolvency Service. You can read the government’s webpage information here and access the consultation response here. Anti-money laundering The UK FIU, part of the National Crime Agency has issued its latest Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) Reporter Booklet highlighting how law enforcement agencies are utilising SAR intelligence to initiate investigations and inform new ones. The booklet contains case studies and gives a sanitised summary of feedback from law enforcement agencies on their use of SARs and includes pertinent information and updates from the UKFIU. You can access a copy of the booklet here . Sustainability The Council of the EU has given its final approval to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). This will replace the current Non - Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) when it is adopted. The CSRD will for the first time put financial and sustainability reporting on an equal footing and will require companies in scope to report on sustainability matters such as environmental rights, social rights, governance factors and human rights. These in scope companies will be required to disclose information on the impact on society and the environment connected with their own operations and with their value chain. Read more about it here. Accountancy Europe have also published a very informative FAQ document which gives a good overview of the directive. Crypto news The Deputy Governor of the Bank of England recently gave an interesting speech entitled “Reflections on DeFi [which is decentralised finance, an umbrella term for financial services on public blockchains], digital currencies and regulation”. In it he referenced the recent crypto turbulence. He said unbacked crypto assets are highly volatile, given that they have no intrinsic value. While crypto was born in unregulated space in recent years it has broadened to encompass a range of financial services. The experience of the past year has demonstrated that it is not a stable ecosystem and is very prone to the risks that regulation in the conventional financial sector is designed to avoid. He still advocates nonetheless to continue to bring these activities and entities within regulation to protect consumers and investors, protect financial stability and to foster innovation. Other parts of his speech reference several consultations next year and their work on the issuance by the Bank of England of a digitally native pound sterling. You can read the full speech here. Meanwhile the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director of Authorisations of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) spoke recently on matters including crypto and its regulation.  At present, the FCA’s role is largely limited to making sure that crypto firms that want to register in the UK are abiding by anti-money laundering rules. She said that the FCA found that only 5% of Crypto applications received were of high quality and could demonstrate that they understood the Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs) and how they would meet these. A further 30% needed material extra work. The FCA engaged with the firms to address concerns about capability, business models and controls. Almost half were subsequently registered. The remaining 65% of applications were very poor, and none of the firms were registered. Many could not explain how the MLRs would be satisfied in the business model proposed – some of them even struggled to explain their business models. You can read her speech including the comments on the Crypto sector here. Other news Readers may be interested in the Irish Government’s recent agreement to extend the mandate of Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs). They can now go further in helping local job creation by allowing them to provide direct grants to businesses with more than 10 employees operating in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sectors. They are also putting in place the structures to enable a seamless transition from LEO to Enterprise Ireland. The press release says, “The strategy also commits Enterprise Ireland to working with the LEOs, to ensure that companies of all sizes are assisted on their development journey, maximising their growth and job creation potential”. You can read all the details here. Readers will know that the Irish Charities Regulator recently held its Charity Trustees Week (14-18 November 2022). There are a number of interesting webinar recordings now available on their website: “Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing”, “the Charites Governance Code in Practice “and “an Introduction to Classification”. Click here to go their webpage from where the webinars can be accessed. Access to the Registry of Beneficial Ownership for Companies (RBO) has been suspended following a recent judgment by the European Court of Justice. The RBO is working on providing access for designated persons. Please see more here.  Readers may find useful a new free data protection guide for NGOs which McCann FitzGerald LLP solicitors recently launched in association with Public Interest Law Alliance (PILA). The guide, which was developed by McCann FitzGerald’s data protection team, provides an overview of data protection law and its application to the charity / not-for-profit sector. You can read more about it and follow a link to download a copy of the guide on the PILA webpage here. Readers might be aware of a new Consumer Rights Act which was passed by the Irish government this year. It was commenced recently and you can find out more about it on the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission website. For further technical information and updates please visit the Technical Hub on the Institute website. 

Roundup 25 November 2022 Welcome to this week’s Technical Roundup. In developments this week, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group has announced that it has delivered the first set of draft European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) to the European Commission. These standards were approved at EFRAG’s meeting on 15 November. The International Sustainability Standards Board have issued their November 2022 update and this includes details of items discussed at their meeting in Frankfurt on 15-16 November. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Auditing IAASA has published its Work Programme for the period 2023 - 2025. IAASA has recently redefined its mission as upholding quality corporate reporting and an accountable profession.  The programme builds on IAASA’s work to date towards achieving that mission across its broad spectrum of activities. The strands of the work programme encompass regulation, promotion of high standards and maximising our impact, and the programme builds strategies around each of these strands and also around the enablers that support the strategies. Commenting on the programme, Chief Executive Kevin Prendergast expects that the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive is likely to permeate many aspects of the Authority’s work over the lifetime of the programme, but he is confident that the Authority can deliver on these challenges. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has today published a new report setting out examples of good practice to improve auditor scepticism and challenge. Financial Reporting The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has announced that it has delivered the first set of draft European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) to the European Commission (EC). These standards were approved at EFRAG’s meeting on 15 November and will now be considered for adoption by the EC. The ISSB have issued their November 2022 update. This includes details of items discussed at their meeting in Frankfurt on 15-16 November. This update is also available via podcast. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) have issued amendments to the application guidance to FRS 100. These amendments were consulted on earlier this year, via FRED 80. The amendments to the application guidance to FRS 100 provide guidance on how Irish intermediate parents with a UK parent can assess equivalence of consolidated financial statements when applying section 300 of the Companies Act 2014. Similarly, the amendments provide application guidance on equivalence when applying section 401 of the Companies Act 2006 in the UK. The FRC has published its “Review of Stewardship Reporting”. This report, which looks at the quality of stewardship reporting in 2022 and expectations for 2023 found improvements in multiple areas when compared to 2021. Insolvency A reminder that the Institute is hosting a webinar on SCARP – what we know so far now scheduled for Thursday, 1 December 2022 at 10am. Des Gibney of McStay Luby and Hilary Larkin of Mazars along with Laura-Michelle Moore from Chartered Accountants Ireland will discuss the SCARP process, how to prepare for it, what to look out for and key matters to be aware of when considering it. We will explore some practical issues including how SCARP is working in practice, dealing with creditors and what your balance sheet may look like before entering the process versus afterwards. This is a free event and open to all to attend. Sustainability EFRAG has submitted the first set of draft European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) to the European Commission in its role as technical adviser to the European Commission. This first set, approved by the EFRAG Sustainability Reporting Board, supported by the EFRAG SR Technical Expert Group, takes into consideration the input from the public consultation on the draft ESRS Exposure Drafts.  See EFRAG's advice package here which includes the ESRSs, and appendices with a TCFD-EFRAG comparative analysis, a comparison of ESRS to IFRS Sustainability Reporting Standards  and final CSRD requirements for ESRS. Accountancy Europe has published some FAQs showing some of the key changes that the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) will bring. The Financial Conduct Authority in the UK has announced the formation of a group to develop a Code of Conduct for Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) data and ratings providers. It refers to the increasing reliance on third party ESG data and ratings services by financial services firms as they integrate ESG into their activities and expand their ESG-focussed products. Click here to go to the FCA website to read the background and next steps. The Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) in collaboration with EY, has recently published ‘ESG and the Role of Compliance’, which sets out observations on how compliance functions can support their firms in robustly and transparently managing the regulatory risks associated with Environmental, Societal and Governance (ESG). The landing page describes how the report covers seven themes around the topic of how compliance functions address ESG, including: strategy, organisation and coverage, compliance risk management framework, systems and capabilities, regulatory environment, data and key performance/key risk indicators. You can click here to access a copy of the report. Anti-money laundering/Sanctions Beneficial ownership registers The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) recently held invalid the provisions of fourth (as amended by the fifth) Anti Money Laundering Directive which require information on the beneficial ownership of corporate and other legal entities incorporated within the territory of Member States to be accessible in all cases to any member of the general public. You can read here the press release from the ECJ. Readers may be aware that in order to fulfil its obligations under the Directives Ireland in recent years has introduced a number of registers on which ownership details must be recorded. For example, the register of beneficial ownership of corporate entities, trusts register, register of certain financial vehicles and very recently the register of safe deposit boxes bank and payment accounts .These registers do not give public access to all the information .For example the register of beneficial ownership of corporate entities gives access to all information on the register to certain entities such as law enforcement but restricted access to others .It remains to be seen what effect the ECJ ruling will have on registers already put in place by member states . Central Bank (CBI) The Deputy Governor delivered a speech recently, entitled “Breaking new ground: regulating for emerging risks “at the Annual Irish Funds UK Symposium. She spoke about a number of areas of interest in the sector including sustainable finance and digital assets. On ESG CBI is concerned about the risks to regulated firms’ sound functioning, and more broadly to financial stability and to ensure that investors are fully informed and not misled. On digital assets she said there are many black boxes and clearly not all of them are fully understood.  She said this asset class has done real harm to retail investors in the last year and the digital assets ecosystem is not a suitable or safe space for retail investors. You can read the full contents of her speech here. Other news Companies House in the UK has published a useful article on filing accounts and are encouraging users to file early and file online. Accountancy Europe has published a paper which explores the different corporate governance systems based on a survey of 17 European countries. It identifies significant differences in national legislation and practice to lay the groundwork for EU sustainable corporate governance initiatives to be well integrated into the national corporate structures. New rules have been introduced from 1 December 2022 as to how employers will have to share tips, gratuities and service charges amongst employees. It will also be illegal for employers to use these to form part of the basic wages. Please click here to read some useful information from the Workplace Relations Commission website on key features such as what is a “tip or gratuity” ,what is a mandatory service charge and what happens if an employee is not satisfied with the way tips and gratuities are distributed. The National Cyber Security centre in the UK has issued some good advice on how to stay secure online. Please click here for some tips on keeping your e mail secure, two actions to instantly help to protect-a strong and different password and turning on 2-Step Verification. There are also some other tips for other ways to stay secure online and keep your devices safe. For further technical information and updates please visit the Technical Hub on the Institute website. 

Welcome to this week’s Technical Roundup. In developments this week, a reminder that the Institute is hosting a webinar on SCARP – what we know so far now scheduled for Thursday, 1 December 2022 at 10am. Des Gibney of McStay Luby and Hilary Larkin of Mazars along with Laura-Michelle Moore from Chartered Accountants Ireland will discuss the SCARP process, how to prepare for it, what to look out for and key matters to be aware of when considering it; and the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) is seeking comments on its draft endorsement advice on amendments to IFRS 16 by 9 January 2023. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Auditing The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has published a set of principles that it will use to assess whether the public interest is best served by carrying out regulatory, supervisory and enforcement work that is outside of its primary regulatory perimeter as it transitions to the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA). The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) has published new guidance to help users understand the impact on the International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) due to narrow-scope amendments made to International Accounting Standard (IAS) 1, Presentation of Financial Statements by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). While the IAASB remains framework neutral when developing the ISAs, it considers financial reporting framework developments that may affect the ISAs, such as changes to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Amendments to IAS 1 and the Impact on the ISAs: Disclosure of Material Accounting Policy Information, among other matters, provides users with guidance on how to address the effect of the amendments on a number of illustrative auditor reports throughout the ISAs that assume, as part of the fact pattern, that the financial statements are prepared by the management of the entity in accordance with IFRSs Financial Reporting On Thursday 17 November the FRC Directors of Strategy and Change, Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs and the FRC Lab explored via a webinar recently published set of principles that they use to assess whether the public interest is best served by carrying out regulatory, supervisory and enforcement work that is outside of their primary regulatory focus. The IFRS Foundation has published Proposed Update 1 General Improvements and Common Practice, which amends the IFRS Accounting Taxonomy 2022. The proposed changes aim to improve the quality of tagged data and to make the IFRS Accounting Taxonomy easier to use. The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) is seeking comments on its draft endorsement advice on amendments to IFRS 16. Comments are requested by 9 January 2023. The International Accounting Standards Board will host a research forum in November 2023. The purpose of this forum is to give researchers the opportunity to give recommendations on the projects researchers look into. The deadline for the submission of research papers is 31 March 2023. Insolvency A reminder that the Institute is hosting a webinar on SCARP – what we know so far now scheduled for Thursday, 1 December 2022 at 10am. Des Gibney of McStay Luby and Hilary Larkin of Mazars along with Laura-Michelle Moore from Chartered Accountants Ireland will discuss the SCARP process, how to prepare for it, what to look out for and key matters to be aware of when considering it. We will explore some practical issues including how SCARP is working in practice, dealing with creditors and what your balance sheet may look like before entering the process versus afterwards. This is a free event and open to all to attend. Sustainability The ISSB have released a podcast which discusses their highlights from COP27. The Irish Central Bank  recently hosted a seminar on the Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation (SFDR) for the asset management sector. Comments made by the Deputy Governor are reported on the Central Bank website. She said that they are placing significant emphasis on supporting delivery of the sustainable finance agenda through the implementation of related legislative initiatives. She referred to CBI role at ESMA, where the CBI has helped shape and develop the organisation’s ambitious agenda in the ESG/sustainability area and to the Sustainable Finance Roadmap 2022-2024 published in February by ESMA. She also referred to CBI domestic focus, the dedicated Climate Change Unit and legislative implementation and supervision of the new requirements in this area – including the SFDR, Taxonomy Regulation and the amendments to UCITS / AIFMD for management companies. You can read her comments in full at the link above. Also, in November 2022 the Central Bank issued an information note entitled Sustainable finance and the asset management sector: Disclosures, investment processes & risk management. You can read the Information Note here. Anti-money laundering/Sanctions The UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation HM Treasury has published its annual review for dates April 2021 to August 2022.In the review OFSI director refers to the extra focus  given to the first 6 months of the invasion of Ukraine to provide context and clarity on what he says is OFSI’s critical  work on sanctions which he says  continues to be integral to the UK’s ability to respond to geo-political issues. Please also click here for the associated HM Treasury news story which reports that the new figures released reveal the full effect of UK sanctions on Russia – with over £18 billion frozen and reported to OFSI. In November 2022 HM Treasury in the UK issued an updated Advisory Notice: High Risk Third Countries. The notice refers to Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (High-Risk Countries) (Amendment) (No.3) Regulations 2022 and states that the statutory instrument will come into force on 7 November 2022 and substitute the list of high-risk third countries specified in Schedule 3ZA of the Money Laundering Regulations with a new list. This list will continue to mirror both the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) ‘Jurisdictions under increased monitoring’ and ‘High-risk jurisdictions subject to a call for action’ documents. Click here to read the advisory notice. Central Bank Readers may know about Irish regulations passed in February 2022 which provided for a central database of information to be supplied by credit institutions to the Irish Central Bank on safe-deposit boxes and bank and payment accounts. The regulations were brought into force to give further effect to the EU fourth and fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directives. In recent weeks the Irish Central Bank has launched a webpage Ireland Safe Deposit Box Bank and Payment Accounts Register (ISBAR) which  sets out the information to be contained on the register and says that the register ensures that flows of money can be properly traced to individuals, entities and illicit networks at an early stage .Technical guidance documents, a reporting template and some FAQs are also accessible on the page. Please also click here for a recent Institute news item on the register. Other news The Irish Companies registration office has in  recent weeks publicised on its website the Christmas 2022 deadline for company incorporations, change of name, re-registration and company name reservations which readers should take note of. The CRO says that it cannot guarantee that submissions received after the dates set out below will be processed before the Christmas break. Fé PHRAINN ONLINE SCHEME 14 December 2022 A1 ORDINARY ONLINE SCHEME 8 December 2022 CHANGE OF NAME 8 December 2022 REREGISTRATIONS 8 December 2022 COMPANY NAME RESERVATIONS 16 December 2022 Readers may recall that earlier this year, the Institute, as part of CCAB-I, responded to a public consultation from the Dept of Enterprise, Trade and Employment on new legislation for the co-operative sector. The Government has now approved the drafting of what is billed as ground-breaking legislation for the sector. Please click here for more details contained in the press release and here to go to the page with a link to the General Scheme of the Co-operative Societies Bill 2022. You can also click here to read the submissions made to the Department in February  2022 including the CCAB-I response. This week the Tánaiste announced the introduction of a national living wage. It will be set at 60% of the hourly median wages in line with the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission. It will be introduced over a four-year period and will be in place by 2026, at which point it will replace the National Minimum Wage. Readers can find  more details in the Dept. news  here . The latest InterTradeIreland Business Monitor (Q3 2022) more details on which, including a Q3 2022  infographic, you can find here, reveals that while businesses are still expanding, the pace of growth is starting to flatten. The latest data shows that while sales and profits remain relatively buoyant, quarter-on-quarter, a pattern of slowing growth is emerging as rising costs pile on the pressure. Last week the Pensions Authority published information for group pension schemes that are subject to the 1 January 2023 compliance deadline for pension schemes, and it has issued a video reminder of it this week. You can click here for the press release and to access the video. The Companies House in the UK has published its  annual report and accounts for the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. The companies register had grown to holding information on around 4.9 million incorporated companies at the end of March 2022. NI Charity regulator opens a consultation: Joint consultation on draft Strategic Plan 2023-2026 and Engagement Strategy The Commission is developing a new strategic plan alongside a new engagement strategy, both of which are being undertaken following the Independent Review of Charity Regulation commissioned by the Minister for Communities in January 2021. The draft strategic plan will set out the Commission’s priorities over the next three years as it responds to the review of charity regulation, the new Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 and delivers charity regulation in Northern Ireland. The engagement strategy will set out how the Commission will become more outward facing and actively engage with stakeholders. This engagement is designed to support charities in complying with charity law while also educating and raising awareness of the Commission’s work amongst the public, including those who support, work for or avail of the services offered by charities. For further technical information and updates please visit the Technical Hub on the Institute website. 

Welcome to this week’s Technical Roundup. In developments this week, the IFRS Foundation has issued a summary of the recent World Standard Setters Conference held on 26-27 September. This includes updates on recent, ongoing and upcoming work by the IASB and ISSB and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, has recently published its latest edition of its Spotlight on Markets Newsletter. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Financial Reporting The Financial Reporting Lab is launching a project to understand how companies develop, assess and use materiality and to consider how enhancements to disclosure about materiality processes might assist investors. The project is expected to cover financial and non-financial reporting. The IASB have released the final instalment of its Dynamic Risk Management (DRM) webcast series. These webcasts explain the DRM project based on the IASB’s tentative decisions to date. The IFRS Foundation has issued a summary of the recent World Standard Setters Conference, held on 26-27 September. This includes updates on recent, ongoing and upcoming work by the IASB and ISSB. The FRC will be holding a webinar on Structured digital reporting – improving quality and usability on 8 November. This will cover some of the key points raised in the FRC Lab’s recent report on Structured Digital Reporting. The FRC will also be holding a webinar on this year’s Annual Review of Corporate Reporting on 2 November. EFRAG has released its educational session on the Primary Financial Statements project. Audit - Quality Management IAASA over recent weeks has published a series of videos designed to provide information on the new suite of Quality Management Standards in Ireland. The full series is available here. To accompany the video series, IAASA has published a factsheet for each Quality Management Standard available here. The new standards apply to periods from 15 December 2022. See our QM resource pages for links to the standards and further guidance. Anti-money laundering, sanctions Click here for the “Inside FCA Podcast: Fighting Financial Crime” where the FCA Executive Director of Markets speaks at the Financial Crime Summit in London. Also see the remarks by the  interim Chair of the FCA and Chief Executive of the FCA delivered recently at the FCA's 2022 Annual Public Meeting. The UK National Crime Agency’s latest edition of SARs in action is now available. It includes items on the red alert issued by the Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce in July 2022 on Russia elite and enablers, non-fungible tokens and money laundering and trade-based money laundering. Please click here to access the October issue. Other The Corporate Enforcement Authority, (CEA), has drafted an Information Note concerning the European Union (Preventive Restructuring) Regulations 2022. The Note will provide a list of potential early warning indicators which may help directors to identify that the company is approaching financial difficulties. It will also give information on the restructuring options available to companies facing financial difficulties, but which may otherwise have a reasonable prospect of survival. CEA is inviting interested parties to submit their views on the draft Information Note by 5pm on 1 November 2022.Readers can access the draft information note here. Revenue has announced a 12-month extension to the Debt Warehousing Scheme to continue to support businesses. Under the scheme, businesses with warehoused debt were due to enter into an arrangement with Revenue to deal with that debt by the end of the year - or by 1 May 2023 for those subject to an extended deadline.  But given the current economic uncertainty, Revenue said it was now extending that timeline to 1 May 2024. Th Minister for Business, Employment and Retail recently introduced draft legislation, the Employment Permits Bill 2022 which if enacted will help modernise the Employment Permit system in Ireland. You can read the press release and access the draft bill on this page. The Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Ireland recently spoke at Climate Finance Week 2022 on the topic of addressing Climate Risk in the Financial System today. She talked about prioritising climate risk at the Central Bank and how firms should identify and manage climate risks. You can click here to read the speech. Announcing the Northern Ireland Charity Commission’s first public meeting since pre COVID-19, Chief Charity Commissioner, Nicole Lappin, highlighted the event as an important opportunity for the charity sector, and for the Commission itself.  The event will include an overview of the Commission’s work and development in recent years, the changes brought in following new Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 as well as the regulator’s plans for the future. Date: Wednesday 16 November 2022 Time: 10am – 12.30pm (registration from 9.45am, refreshments will be available) Venue: Chestnut Suite, Lagan Valley Island, Lisburn The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, has recently published its latest edition of its Spotlight on Markets Newsletter. For further technical information and updates please visit the Technical Hub on the Institute website. 

Welcome to this week’s Technical Roundup. In developments this week, IAASA has published a paper setting out information requests that it has raised with companies on their climate-related disclosures in their annual financial reports and did you know about the European Commission’s podcasts? Short episodes are released at the same time as the monthly EU Commission Finance Newsletter on topics related to banks, capital markets, insurance, digital or sustainable finance, anti-money laundering, sanctions, etc. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Financial Reporting In their latest edition of “Insight from SME accountants” series, Accountancy Europe looks at how sustainability matters for the new generation of accountant. The IASB has produced a series of eight webcasts to explain the Dynamic Risk Management project to date. The FRC Lab has published a report on the disclosure of net zero commitments. This provides tips for companies on how to consider when disclosing their commitments. IAASA has published a paper setting out information requests that it has raised with companies on their climate-related disclosures in their annual financial reports. Anti-Money laundering, sanctions On 6 October 2022 the European Union announced its eighth package of sanctions. Click here for a press release on the eighth package of sanctions and please also visit our sanctions webpages “Europe & International” for more details of what the eighth package consists of. HMRC in the UK has recently issued an economic crime supervision annual self-assessment report for the period  1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 which it says  analyses the extent to which HMRC is meeting its obligations under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, as well as comparing it to the standards set for professional body anti-money laundering supervisors. The National Cyber Security Centre Ireland has a quick guide to phishing to help to avoid being phished, spotting the giveaway signs of phishing e-mails, and what to do if you think you’ve already clicked the attacker’s bait. Other The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform recently signed the commencement order for the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022 to set 1 January 2023 as the date on which the Act will commence in its entirety. Readers may be aware that the new legislation will substantially amend the Protected Disclosures Act 2014. It will expand the categories of protected person to include protections for volunteers, shareholders, board members and job applicants for the first time. It also expands the wrongs in respect of which a protected disclosure can be made. It imposes requirements on organisations to put internal whistleblowing procedures in place and a new Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner will be established. You can read more in the Department’s press release on its website here and we will provide more information to members in due course on this topic. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has published its October's Enterprise Newsletter. This includes information about Budget 2023 helping businesses and families with escalating energy costs, the Cross-Government launch of a new National Implementation Plan for the Sustainable Development Goals 2022-2024, and EU trade sanctions in response to situation in Ukraine. There are also details of a new pay agreement providing pay increases and wage structure for early learning and childcare workers, publication of the Final Report of the LEEF High-Level Working Group on Collective Bargaining, and public consultation on the Single Market Emergency Instrument. The newsletter can be found here. The Pensions Authority has published the results of a survey conducted on trustees’ IORP II preparedness. The survey provides information on pension scheme trustees’ progress since a similar survey was carried out in 2020. The survey findings indicate that while significant progress has been made by scheme trustees to meet the requirements of the Act, there is still work to be done by trustees to ensure compliance ahead of the 1 January 2023 deadline. The survey findings also indicate that most DB scheme trustees surveyed intend to continue their scheme, while almost half of the DC trustee respondents noted an intention to wind up their scheme and move to a master trust. Further information and the results can be found here. Did you know about the European Commission’s podcasts? Short episodes are released at the same time as the monthly EU Commission Finance Newsletter on topics related to banks, capital markets, insurance, digital or sustainable finance, anti-money laundering, sanctions, etc. The latest one “the on about Anti Money laundering dated 29 September 2022 can be accessed now. Please also click here to read the European Commission’s latest Banking and Finance newsletter where DG FISMA's Director-General talks about topics including the energy crisis and  sanctions, and includes a short discussion about cryptocurrencies, the current ‘crypto winter’, and the digital euro. Cathy Shivnan, the Corporate Enforcement Authority’s (CEA) Director of Insolvency Supervision, sat down recently with Graham Kenny of Eversheds Sutherland LLP to talk about the role of the newly established CEA. The CEA is now the competent authority in Ireland for the investigation of breaches of the Companies Acts and the taking of necessary enforcement actions. You can listen here. For further technical information and updates please visit the Technical Hub on the Institute website. 

Welcome to this week’s Technical Roundup. In developments this week, the IFRS Foundation has published its September 2022 monthly news summary which highlights the news and events from the past month and in a recently released episode of the International Accounting Standards Board podcast, Chair Andreas Barckow and Executive Technical Director Nili Shah, talk through the highlights from the September 2022 IASB meeting. Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below. Financial Reporting IAASA has published its annual Observations paper highlighting matters that those charged with governance should consider when preparing their financial statements for 2022. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) Lab have issued their September 2022 news roundup. EFRAG, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group has published its September 2022 update. In its September 2022 podcast, the ISSB discuss the highlights from its recent board meeting. The IASB have also released its September 2022 podcast. The IFRS Foundation has published its September 2022 monthly news summary which highlights the news and events from the past month. The FRC has published a report on Navigating barriers to senior leadership for people from minority ethnic groups in FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies.  Auditing and Assurance The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has opened a post implementation review of the auditing standard (ISA) (UK) 540 (Revised December 2018) Auditing Accounting Estimates and Related Disclosures. This ISA became effective for audits of accounting periods beginning on or after 15 December 2019. Interested stakeholders are also invited to attend one of two roundtables to support the call for feedback. These are being held on: Wednesday 23 November 2022, 14:00-15:00 (online) Thursday 24 November 2022, 11:00-12:00 (in person at the FRC’s offices) To RSVP for the roundtables please email stakeholderengagement@frc.org.uk. The call for feedback is open until 13 January 2023. Accounting In a recently released episode of the IASB podcast, Chair Andreas Barckow and Executive Technical Director Nili Shah talk through the highlights from the September 2022 IASB meeting. Ethics and the Ukraine Conflict The Staff of the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants have released the Staff Alert, The Ukraine Conflict: Key Ethics and Independence Considerations. The publication draws the attention of professional accountants in business and in public practice, including firms, to a number of important provisions in the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards) with which they must comply in carrying out their work as they navigate the unprecedented challenges and risks arising from the Russia-Ukraine war. Other The Pensions Authority has published its Annual Report and Accounts for 2021. The Annual Report and Accounts for 2021 and an accompanying statement from the Pensions Regulator, Brendan Kennedy, can be read here. Also in Pensions Authority news, they recently published information in relation to exit charges, trustee annual reports and audited accounts for one member arrangements (OMAs) migrating into a master trust. You can read more details from their website here. The Pensions Authority has also published an update for trustees in relation to trustee annual reports and audited accounts for group schemes with less than 100 active and deferred members transferring to a master trust or PRSAs. The UK Financial Conduct Authority has published research showing that a quarter of consumers it surveyed would withdraw pension savings earlier to cover cost of living – making them vulnerable to scammer ‘misdirection’. It has recently launched its latest ScamSmart campaign aimed at giving consumers the knowledge and tools to avoid pension scams and you can read more about it here. The Central Bank has recently announced a review of the Consumer Protection Code 2012 (“Code”) to modernise it and ensure it is fit for purpose. The Code is a set of principles and rules that regulated financial firms must follow when they sell financial products and services, give financial information or advice, advertise financial products or services and handle complaints of consumers. A discussion paper has been published and you can click on the link to access the discussion paper and complete the survey. The Central Bank published its final Quarterly Bulletin of 2022 and  you can read the press release here. Chartered Accountants Ireland Western Society was pleased to co-host the launch of the Bulletin in the Galmont Hotel Galway on 6 October 2022. The event was an opportunity to discuss the general outlook for the Irish economy and the Bulletin which noted that energy-driven inflation is causing uncertainty and challenges for domestic growth. Following a short presentation, attendees were invited to ask questions from the panel moderated by Dr Brian Keegan, Director of Advocacy and Voice, Chartered Accountants Ireland.  The panel included Robert Kelly, Director of Economics and Statistics, Ireland; Tara McIndoe-Calder – Senior Economist, Central Bank of Ireland and Cathal O'Donoghue – Established Chair, Social and Public Policy, National University of Ireland, Galway. Please click here to access a podcast by Europol on Ransomware. A number of cybercrime specialists speak about how law enforcement dealt with a cybercriminal network selling ransomware services. Also in Ireland on this topic, the National Cyber Security Centre and the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau this week launched a joint public awareness campaign for European Cyber Security Month. The campaign this year is focused on the twin themes of phishing and ransomware, urging vigilance and outlining their potential impacts on the everyday lives of Irish citizens and businesses. You can read more in the Dept. of Justice press release here. On Wednesday of this week there was a cross government launch of  the new National Implementation Plan for the Sustainable Development Goals 2022-2024. Its purpose is to  increase Ireland’s ambition and strengthen implementation structures to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (which are set out in the plan). The Minister of State at the Department of Finance with special responsibility for Financial Services, Credit Unions and Insurance, Seán Fleming, recently launched an update of the Ireland for Finance strategy. This update charts the future development of the international financial services sector in Ireland to the end of 2026. Under the updated strategy the government has a target to grow employment in the sector by 5,000 net new jobs. You can read the press release here and access the updated strategy by clicking here and clicking the Updated Ireland for Finance Strategy. For further technical information and updates please visit the Technical Hub on the Institute website.